A CHRISTMAS TALE When I was growing up, most of the cousins in my extended family were girls, so when my brother and the only boy cousin got together for reunions, they couldn’t stay out of mischief for long. I was the eldest cousin, and as I remember it, this mischief was always directed at the girls. They loved to hear us yell, and were overjoyed if we chased them. A CHRISTMAS TALE is a work of fiction, though the characters are a compilation of personalities from my childhood. Some of the names have been changed to protect the…

Exploring Fantasy Worlds with author R. J. Larson Fantasy is not a genre of fiction I typically choose. I mean, come on. Dragons or other strange and frightening creatures? Make-believe words and worlds? Magic? Medieval-type settings full of castles and men and women who fight with swords or other deadly weapons? REALLY? By definition, fantasy is extravagant and unrestrained imagination using mental images that are unreal or fantastic. This type of fiction never attracted me much, though I did enjoy Lois Lowry’s, The Giver, and Robin McKinley’s Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast, The Hero and the Crown, and The Blue Sword when my classes read…